Another day...another year...

So, yesterday was my birthday.
Funny how they seem to come around so often anymore :)

Now, I must say that I quite enjoy my birthdays...in fact I like to do lots of celebratory things through the month. This was much easier and lots of fun when my birthday buddy, Leanetta was living here. She has moved to Baltimore. I really need to call her--as she tried to reach me while I was on the plane home from Florida. Netta, if you see this...I'll call...soon.

Baskin Robbins has German Chocolate Cake ice cream all month! The leaves begin changing and falling from the trees. It's cool enough to bake comfortably. I also consider this the beginning of the holiday season...finishing my Christmas shopping and gift making and enjoying the festivals and fun places to go and see.

Anyway--I had quite a nice day. My parents sent lots of boxes to be opened and my friend Brenda joined me for an afternoon of frolicking about and cooking a nice little supper.

My boxes were filled with lots of fun and useful things. My favorite is a 1930 edition of The Secret of the Old Clock by Carolyn Keene.
Huzzah!

A great big THANKS to everyone who sent thoughtful greetings!!

I'll leave you with a photo of the flowers Brenda brought over.
I think they're quite cheery.

Cake...again

This isn't the best shot...but these are the cakes I did for Thora's first birthday party. Lots of fun to make...and a great birthday party!!


Here is a photo of the larger cake...the one I have of the smaller one for Thora isn't formatting right...I like doing cakes like this...they are usually pretty simple and fun! I really do like the formed pans too...for the detail.

Yummy fun!
: )

Happy Birthday Ma :)

This is Ma. She is obviously not running quickly enough to escape this huge, ancient boulder that is hurtling toward her. Luckily, Indiana Jones was nearby and came to her rescue.



This is Ma with Tiny Cute Moose. They are preparing for a thrilling journey through Matterhorn Mountain in a bobsled. Life doesn't get much more thrilling than this.


But, life can get wetter than a bobsled ride! This is Ma after plummeting down into the brier patch beneath Chickapin Hill. I think she really enjoyed the splash from this mountain!


Finally, to honor Ma on her birthday...a shot in her lovely floppy hat which prevented what could have been a very painful (and might I mention unsightly) sunburn on the top of her head!



Here are a couple of other shots...one playing cards with A.L., Ma loves games!! The last shot is of her and Poppie dancing at Chrissy's wedding. They do like to dance!


Hope you had a great birthday Ma!!!
: )

Cakes!!

Upon my return from SoCal I had a couple of cakes to do. The first was a birthday cake for the daughter of a friend of mine. She wanted Spongebob Squarepants. I did the Wilton Spongebob formed pan. It was lots of fun...and for the first time when I was done I thought it didn't look half bad! What do you think? I really like doing the forms over the freestyle ones on the cakes.

The second cake was for an office birthday party. I had a special request for Goofy. I found a coloring page online and did the transfer method...and a little freehand to get him looking right!

This one was fun to do as well...as I am making more cakes the basic skills are becoming tons easier and look a lot better too! I just added some goofy swirls on the top...you can't see the bottom border in this shot--but I had so much fun with it--big white stars with smaller green ones alternating around it with blue and pink dots in between! 

I'm kind of tired of cake...the eating part...but everyone else still seems to enjoy it! I'm considering trying some different fillings--which will require me to get some torting skills...I guess I'll need to learn eventually!!  

Does anyone out there have some fun cake ideas--something to shake it up a bit?

Rose Spray Cake for Caleb :)

I finished my Wilton I class on Monday night. The final cake was a rose spray. I used leftover sea colored frosting from the Scary Spongebob cake for the base color and added golden yellow roses with leaf green vines and leaves and a floppy burgundy bow. It was a lot of fun...I think I did at least twenty roses before I felt OK about them. I'm still having issues with the "class frosting". Thankfully in Wilton II I'll primarily be using Royal Icing--something I've not done before.

WOW...as I'm typing this it seems my neighbor feels the need to share his rock oldies with me. Joy.


The best part about doing my final cake was knowing in the end it would be Caleb's birthday cake at CG on Tuesday! Caleb is a great guy, married to my good friend Tavia. I hope he enjoyed his floral celebration!

Here is a photo of Caleb--Happy Birthday!!

:sigh:

Things have just seemed a little chaotic this week~I'm unsure exactly why, but so it has been. I'm quite happy tomorrow is Friday and I'll have a few days to order things around the house and hopefully feel more settled.

I have some cool photos from the things that are growing as summer approaches...though our weather this week has felt more like Halloween-time than nearly summer-time. I don't mind...I love the rain!

I'll get to posting! : )

Happy Belated Blog Birthday

I was just perusing my blogger: in draft stuff and noticed that I created this little blog one year ago...yesterday. I haven't done much to personalise things...perhaps this year I'll work on making some cool buttons or something. Seems my sister Amber has acquired some serious Blogger skills in the few months she's been up and running. (way to go sis!)

The photo isn't actually from 28 May 2007...but close. Anyway, I think it's kinda pretty and fits the occasion. Thanks for stopping by...leave notes :)

It's a Mickey cake!

I have been making cakes this year to celebrate the birthdays in our office. This cake is for Stacy--even though her birthday was last month :) It was a bit harder than I expected and I made the frosting a wee bit thin...but I think it still looks like Mickey. I'll try to take a better photo tomorrow at the office. The lighting in here at night isn't the best.

I made a cake last week at the Wilton I class I'm in. I took it to the office as well. Ron has been a great help with coupons from the Sunday paper so that I can afford the class--tons of 'hidden costs'. The "Thanks" is to him!

Here's a shot of that cake. It had a pudding filling! Yummers!!

Arizona: Day 03

Gosh...time flies--the sun keeps shining down--and the gas just disappears!

Today was spent in my hometown, Wickenburg. I did not go up there on my last trip so this time I planned to drive up for the afternoon.


On my way out of town I stopped to meet my friend Karyn for coffee. We didn't have a chance to meet up last time either. It was really nice sitting outside in the morning sun...it was MUCH cooler and there was a cool breeze. It was a brief get together...but great to catch up none-the-less!


Soon I was speeding down the road to Wickenburg. I was more than a little appalled at the growth that has occurred since I last drove up there. It seems a little ridiculous to continue to spread out into the desert when there are tons of houses already built that want occupants. I know that is oversimplified...it is just a little odd to know how bad the economy is and that homes aren't really selling and to see the continued building.

Anyway...it was fun to be on familiar country roads zipping along as fast as the road would allow!

When I arrived the card table went up and Ma, A.L. & I played cards.
We had to play Skip-Bo since Ma couldn't find her Phase Ten cards anywhere. We solved that problem when we popped into town for a minute by stopping at ALCO :)


I had a chance to stop by and visit my doctor. I started seeing him soooooo long ago. His office found out I'd be in town and asked Ma if she could pop me by. It was a very quick visit--but a good one! Sadly I forgot to do a self-portrait with Doc :( I'm very sad about this fact.




For supper we went to Anita's for supper. YUM!!! It was fabulous! Lots and lots of chips and salsa were eaten as well as a deep fried bean and cheese burrito AND fried ice cream. We celebrated my aunt's birthday and mine as well. Funny since neither of us were born in April!

Again...I failed to take a shot of me and the fam...or a new one with Poppit in it! Ah well...the weekend isn't over yet and I'll see everyone on Saturday at the wedding!

Another fine day.
Temperature: Upper seventies-low eighties, light breeze (whew!)
Average Speed: Seventy (due to following a blast motor home from Idaho for too many miles!)

Happy Birthday Sis!!

Happy Birthday, Bers!!!!!!!

Hope your special day has been full of magical surprises!

Cheers!
: ) Sis